I wonder if, or how the following thoughts fit into others thoughts on
notions of leadership?
May a 'leader' be the unifying expression of fragmentary impressions of
the collective need felt in each and every moment?
He/she or it may best be paradoxically 'invisible' and 'blind'.
To speak of and seek the quality 'leadership' may be nothing more or less
than to express awe and respect in the face of 'unknowing'.
I find this personified in the notion of the 'old child'. (White-haired
child) I gained from reading Alan Watts.
If a 'leader' were not of necessity a person then perhaps a 'pattern'?
The leader sought then, so far as I can determine from my readings here
and elsewhere, does neither work nor measure through force or pressure.
Would it then be 'pattern' seeming congruent with coming to know 'deep
creativity' and 'nature's patterns' as espoused by Senge et al. if I have
understood them correctly?
Pattern is by nature 'universal' and I suspect deeply embedded in each, as
individual, society and 'whole'.
"Knowledge of the ancients was perfect. How perfect? At first, they did
not know there were things. This is the most perfect knowledge; nothing
can be added. Next, they knew that there were things, but they did not yet
make distinctions between them. Next they made distinctions between them
but did not pass judgements upon them. When judgements were passed, Tao
was destroyed."
I am struck by the pattern above mirroring the pattern of 'ethics'
expressed as an undercurrent in nearly most writings on this list, not
least the struggle to learn in humility without judging since this is what
may inevitably lead to hurt, fragmentation and then to isolation through
dislocation.
I am led back to a notion intimately connected with childhood. 'The baby
looks without squinting or staring, he simply gazes with incredulity, and
he goes ahead without knowledge of where he is going, and stops without
knowing. He merges and goes along (with themb
I once worked with a boy with extreme learning difficulties, certainly
dyslexic. I showed him images of works of art, but not wholes rather the
fragments of a compositional whole presented as if they were a whole. One
image was of apple blossom in pencil and watercolour that was lightly
worked and looked for all the world like so many things, 'clouds', 'hills
and valleys', 'angels' were just some of the descriptions applied by
adults.
His response written on the back of the image was, "This picture is
perfect, there is nothing to say and nothing can be added".
This wisdom I would follow; this seems a form of 'mergence gaining
emergence'.
Union is plan. Union as plan?
We do not 'see' this so much as 'feel' it.
I am going to keep searching for the 'blind and white-haired' child.
I may have my eyes closed...bump...Ooops!
Best wishes,
Andrew Campbell
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